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2008 World Series of Poker – The Highlight Reel

The most exciting, prestigious, and massive poker tournament series in the world has come and gone, for the most part. With the exception of the WSOP main event final table scheduled to take place on November 9th and 10th, the bulk of the 2008 World Series of Poker is over.

For players and media, it seemed like a whirlwind and a long haul at the same time. Most spent approximately seven weeks “living” in Las Vegas for the entirety of the WSOP, and though it often felt like a grind in which the tournaments sometimes ran together, it was also somewhat surprising to reach the main event and feel that everything that led up to it had flown by in a jumbled race to the finish.

For fans or part-time players who regularly followed the WSOP updates or recaps on the internet, it may have seemed like a bombardment of information – chip counts, leader boards, and statistics for 55 tournaments, each of which had at least two days of tournament action to track. Instead of sifting through article after article of results, there should be one place to look at the results and the big picture in one place.

Here it is. You’re welcome.

The 39th annual World Series of Poker was held at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas over the course of 47 days. A total of 55 bracelet events were organized and played with the following record-breaking results:Players – 58,720 players registered for bracelet events (8% increase over 2007)Prize pool - $180,676,248 in prize money was awarded to players in bracelet events ($20,880,030 increase over 2007)World participation – 118 different countries and/or territories were represented by players (31 more than in 2007)

Event #2 - $1500 NLHE tournament was largest live tournament field in the history of poker with 3,929 entrants

Main Event – 6,844 players was second largest live tournament field in poker history with the sole exception of the 2006 WSOP main eventMain Event prize - $9,119,517 will be the second largest first prize ever awarded in poker history with the sole exception of the 2006 WSOP main event

Last but not least was Event #54, the $10K World Championship NLHE main event. It drew 6,844 players to create a prize pool of $64,333,600. After seven days of play that included four Day 1’s and two Day 2’s, a total of 666 players ended their tournament in the money. And when all was said and done at 3:30am on the morning of July 15th, there were nine players left.

The “November Nine” left the Rio with ninth place money ($900,670) and will return on November 9th, 2008, to play the final table in order to determine the 2008 world champion. As the Rio Convention Center’s Amazon Room cleared out for the last time this year, the standings of the players were as follows:

The build-up to the final table now begins with the ESPN broadcasts of the 2008 World Series of Poker preliminary events and a final table preview show that will lead up to the finale to be aired on November 11th, just hours after the winner is determined in Las Vegas. Stay tuned, folks, it is not over yet!